This invention relates to electronic commerce systems implemented using public packet switched communications networks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,424, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, filed Dec. 16, 1993 by David K. Gifford and issued on Mar. 3, 1998, discloses an electronic commerce system that allows buyer computers to purchase goods or information from merchant computers over a public packet switched communications networks. The merchant computers cause electronic documents to be sent to buyer computers containing forms that buyers can fill out and return to the merchant computers to request purchases. A payment computer obtains authorization of payment orders for purchases in real time from an external financial authorization network.